Depression is one of the worst afflictions. It creeps up and messes with your own mind, promoting panic, inaction, fear and passivity in people who are not naturally this way.
Unfortunately, when I think back on the colleagues of mine who have struggled with bouts of depression, I think of people who spent a lot of time being told that they had a problem, without much in the way of a solution.

One of the reasons I am a supporter of Wayne’s work – on this web site and in the Anti-Depression Association of Australia – is that the Fountainhead Method he promotes is concerned with using one’s own mind to take back control of oneself.

Sounds simplistic? Well, it’s not simple but it is highly effective for most people.
Just as there are many stages and types of disease, so there are different types and severity of depression. I have seen amazing results from Wayne’s work where sufferers take back control of their own lives.

Because of my business background, I’m always focused on what works and what doesn’t. That’s why I like the ADAA and this site. It’s focusing on practical solutions to this problem.

I have been in business more than 30 years and I have been involved in many ventures: telecoms, retail, building and contracting, to name a few.

During this time I’ve watched a curious trend develop: an epidemic of stress.

When I started my first business in the 1980s, workplace stress was reserved for a few small groups: executives, partners in professional services firms and business owners.
These people were the ones who worked too hard and stressed themselves.

Over the years things changed and now it seems the entire workforce is up to their necks in stress. People are working harder than ever, to pay for an ever increasingly expensive cost of living.

It has become a vicious and dangerous circle affecting our mental health.

One of the symptoms of this over-worked, over stressed society is the number of people who are depression. It doesn’t hit everyone the same way, in my experience: for some, it’s harder to get out of bed in the morning; for others, they have complete breakdowns and may never re-join the workforce again.

Sadly, many people who are suffering depression don’t know they have it and they don’t know the early signs; many more don’t know what to do when it strikes and others who know they are ill keep it hidden from family, employers and colleagues.

I have had people close to me who have been afflicted with this illness and it can strike people differently. I’ve also come to the conclusion that many people would respond to it faster and more proactively if they knew there was a practical way of dealing with depression: a method that made sense and that worked.

I believe the ADAA has that solution in the Fountainhead Method and I look forward to working with Wayne as he promotes practical action against this terrible affliction.

I would like to provide you with some background on the Anti-Depression Association of Australia (ADAA), which I chair.

The ADAA started two years ago and carried on from another organisation, the Anti Depression Institute, which was created while we were working out what we can do to help a wider audience.

Beyond Blue is Australia’s best organisation at promoting depression. It is fantastic at awareness and desensitising people to the idea of admitting to depression and talking about it. But we wanted to go the next step and focus on solutions. So we went looking for things that work.

Take the case of a psychologist from the Gold Coast. He came to us and said he had a cure for bi-polar depression. So at the moment we are investigating: is it real? Does it work? He has to produce to us 10 clients who say they are cured and then we have to test his technique on other clients. There are lots of solutions to things that people do not seem to know about. They are hidden solutions.

Jeff Kennett, the chair of Beyond Blue, said to me ten years ago that you cannot fix depression but there is a lot you can do to help. You can strengthen a person’s social environment and social support. The person can take some healthier lifestyle choices, or increase fitness.

But that to me is not enough. My first example is a friend. We did all those things. We started walking every day and started eating healthier. He cut back on drinking and started better sleeping habits. Three months later, he still had depression but he was just healthier. That was all we knew at the time.

Here is what I believe: anxiety and depression are not difficult to fix if you have the right tools, and a one to three month period to work with. Most programs we recommend last from one to two months with lots of follow up available, if it is needed. What clients need is new behaviour in their lifestyle.

We have treated 4.500 clients through various organisations over a decade come February 2012.

Our Patron – Tony Hakim

Tony Hakim is the patron  of the Anti Depression Association of Australia (ADAA), which I chair. He has been fantastic, he is one of the reasons it is all possible, particularly on the strategy. We have been planning what to do. It’s a big project. Neither of us have done a not-for-profit venture before, so it’s new to us.

The two of us have built a strong working and personal relationship over decades. I first met Tony Hakim at high school when we were both at Marist Brothers Pagewood. I knew his brother and got to know Tony through him.

We left school and I did not see Tony for years until I bumped into him one day. I was working as a consultant and he had a small business in the Telco industry.

A previous job of mine was working for a Minister for Consumer Affairs, writing the minister’s personal responses to enquiries and letters. That period taught me the skill of reading and interpreting an act  of parliament.

When I looked into Tony’s industry, I read the act and realised there was an opportunity. If Tony could aggregate his clients’ billings, then he could resell Telco services that were then only available to Optus and Telstra.

So one day I travelled down to his farm and showed him the act. That got Tony into reselling, which changed his business. He went from 16 staff to 48 in six months, and over 200 staff within the year.. Tony then sold this new business to  Digicall.

I left and went of to start a family. He went back to his core business. Then three years later, he came back and asked me to do what we could creatyeb this time around. I wanted the telco business to go national and to go public, and take a higher profile.

We combined a billing platform with a hardware system so customers could save money. Jeff Kennett, Chairman of Beyond Blue, the national Depression initiative became our first chairman and within three years we were indeed National with over 500 staff and contractors. The idea that a person can use their bill credits to help offset other telco expenses, with some similiarities to . how the mobile phone system works. People jump on plans because they are a more convenient way to high-ticket technology. We made it work for landline systems and tens of thousands of people benefitted.

Which brings us to today and the ADAA. Tony is a financial whiz and a good strategist. But to me he is more a confidante. For instance, I said to him that we now know how to  fix anxiety and depression but it has large costs attached.  He analysed the current business model, identyifying the key “fix” of the service. He then  advised to put it on an online platform that might cost a lot to set up- but we only had to pay thois once.. Once it is set up, he said, you can scale it and charge much less, serving and helping so many more people.

So Tony has helped me devise all these new product lines, through the ADAA and affiliated companies, which will launch over the next 18 months. They will help, potentially, thousands of people.

He is quiet and generous to a fault. You can see I am proud to call Tony Hakim a friend.

Fixing depression

I am asked frequently how we define depression and how we go about trying to fix it. Well, our starting point is that everybody in life has goals. They may want to get married, have two children, finish their law degree, go and become a solicitor. As long as life goes to plan, people do not develop depression. If every day, you got up and made a plan and it all happened, you would never develop depression.

But that’s not how life works as we all know. That lovely wife unfortunately went off with our best friend. All of a sudden, we had to replan our lives. The cause of stress is always life not going to plan. Once we start to understand stress, we start to demystify it. We do not feel that we are crazy, we understand that we are stressed.

Stress is experienced in different ways. We feel life is not going to plan, or potentially may not go to plan. Or we could feel literally on the wrong path. Or we should have, would have, could have done something different.

We are always lamenting something.

When things go wrong, part of us thinks: maybe we deserve it. Maybe the fault’s in us. Maybe we’re not as sharp as we thought we were. Eventually we always blame ourselves partly when things go wrong. Part of it always relates to self-esteem. The average human being sets goals, and when things go wrong, it undermines his self-esteem.

The logical thing to do when something is affecting us negatively is to stop doing it. A person who has major things in life go wrong decides to stop making goals. That way, he won’t feel worse. But unfortunately we can’t stop having goals because depression is when we do not have any goals.

Depression is when someone has no belief in the future. The reason is society teaches us to set your goals and achieve them. It’s a success model. Get our life right. We are always boasting about our achievements. But we may decide, we are not going to have any goals any more, because we feel worse every time we do not achieve a goal.

How do we fix depression? We have to give the person another reason to have goals beside achieving them. How many big picture goals will I make this year? Fifty to 100? We will be lucky to achieve 20. The other 80 will be fantastic learning experiences. We define myself by my learning, not my achievement.

We work on the basis that people can learn to live better and to regain their equilibrium. That’s the nub of our approach. I suggest that if you know someone who is suffering depression that you get in touch with us. We are here to help,

Free Info Open Day July 30th

Are you interested in an educational program but not sure if it’s for you?

Are you or a loved one suffering with Stress, Depression, or Anxiety?

Is now the time to make a change?

The Fountainhead Method®  give you new tools to deal with the stress in your life. Saturday July 30^th we are opening our doors to give you a taste of what Fountainhead has to offer.

Feel free to bring a loved one for a free tour of the Fountainhead Organic Retreat, with an educational introduction to the Fountainhead Method® followed by a complementary organic BBQ lunch.

Please RSVP attendance to ensure enough food by calling (07) 5499 9519 or email Host5@fountainhead.com.au

Date:       Saturday 30th July

Time:      10am

Fountainhead Retreat

Address:

Fountainhead Organic Retreat

67 McCarthy Road

Maleny 4552

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is an overall mood condition that can occur without a clear trigger. Its symptoms can include panic attacks, shortness of breath, headaches, irritability, restlessness, loss of sleep, and often fear of negative events. Classic examples of Anxiety can also be ritualistic behavior and constant list making. It is important to note that anxiety is not the same as fear, which is an emotional response to an anticipated threat. Also, fear is related to the fight or flight response whereas anxiety is related to situations perceived as uncontrollable or unavoidable. Essentially, Anxiety occurs as a result of a perceived need to control future events and avoid disaster. [Read More]

What is Depression?

In today’s world, all of us have had experience with depression. We have felt its effects personally or seen friends and loved ones suffer. It’s become the problem of our age but who actually knows what it is?

Well, first of all depression is not the problem it is the symptom. It is an indication that our methods to deal with stress needs to change and education is needed to change how we react to the ups and downs of life. The signs of depression are intense hopelessness and dejection, sadness, emptiness and usually accompanied by emotions of guilt, loss of energy, and a loss of interest in pursuing a life.

On top of that depression sufferers tend to turn to drugs and alcohol, which adds to the problem and further distracts from the actual cause. [Read More]

Wednesday 29th June 2011 – Wayne Parrott Awarded for his efforts

Wayne Parrott, Hon. Chairman Anti Depression Association of Australia (ADAA)
-and Founder Fountainhead Retreat, received an award from the Commonwealth government for his work with
The development of Holistic approaches to the treatment of anxiety and depression, including The Fountainhead Method. A group of about 100 were present including Liberal MP, Teresa Gambaro And Labor Senator for Queensland Mark Furner ensuring  bi partisan support.
Last year the ADAA presented The Fountainhead Method to the Senate enquiry on suicide and it is fast becoming recognised as the most successful method of treating stress related illness in the world today.

What started off as a simple idea is now growing.

When national leaders thought of creating the ADAA it was to help spread solutions that really work in the area of stress related illness. Over the last six months we have received support from inspirational people and dedicated organizations like Fountainhead Retreat, Senator Mark Furner and the Ride Against Depression team – our solutions and leadership are rapidly expanding.